Careers at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions: Craft Your Research and Teaching Strategies
Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) are uniquely American institutions that provide a powerful and distinctive alternative to undergraduate education in the United States. Deeply rooted in the commitment to small class sizes and individualized attention, they emphasize the balanced growth of the whole individual that develops students as scholars. Extremely diverse in approach, culture, and even size, they attract and retain those faculty who prefer this professional environment for their lifelong careers and prepare for it while still engaged in post-graduate training. This fulfilling career requires a complex juggling act between teaching, scholarship, and citizenry, in ways distinctly different from that at larger R01 universities.
This three-part workshop series is designed to introduce and prepare you for research and teaching in a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI). We will discuss the different aspects of a PUI faculty role, how to maintain a productive research program, and help you take the first steps towards developing your teaching philosophy.
This course complements existing CCTL and UChicagoGRAD training that prepares you for an academic career.
Course capacity: 20
Course fee: $10
Dates & Times
Friday, June 21st and Tuesday, July 2nd | 12:00 – 2:00 PM.
Session Descriptions
Session I & II: The Rewarding Career of a Small College Professor and How to Prepare for It
Although teaching is the first priority, achieving tenure and promotion at a small college requires some level of scholarship, and succeeding in the latter is often the major challenge. The expectations for scholarship vary with institution but may come as a close second. Higher expectations for scholarship often, but not always, come with lower teaching loads and institutional research support. How can candidates stand out in preparation to get this job and then as junior faculty develop strategies for successful sustainable scholarship in a teaching-centered environment for the longer arc of a fuller career? This workshop offers two concurrent sessions that will help trainees first understand the career and then the ways to best prepare for it: 1) The Juggler Professor: The faculty career at a liberal arts college and 2) How to Start, succeed, and maintain a research career at a small liberal arts college. Instructor: Shubhik DebBurman, PhD
Session III: Developing Your STEM Teaching Philosophy
Teaching is a critical component of many academic careers. Effective development and communication of your teaching philosophy are essential for job market success and subsequent promotion and tenure considerations. This workshop will help you explore your educational values, experiences, and methods to formulate a robust teaching philosophy. Attendees will depart with a structured outline of their teaching philosophy and additional resources to finalize their statements. Instructor: Elaine Kushkowski
Instructors
Shubhik DebBurman, PhD
Professor of Biology, Lake Forest College
Dr. DebBurman is the Disque D. and Carol Gram Deane Professor of Biology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Neuroscience at Lake Forest College (Illinois), where he also served as the college’s Senior Director of Science Partnerships, creating the Health Professions Program in 2020, Nursing Pathways Program in 2022, and developed 16 dual-degree pathways for the college by partnering with Chicago area graduate institutions. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Northwestern University in 1996, did postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago (1996-1998) as an HHMI/LSRF Fellow, and completed a visiting professorship at Kalamazoo College, Michigan (1998-2001) before joining Lake Forest College in 2001. As a cell biologist, he specifically studies the molecular bases of synucleinopathies using yeast systems and has trained over 100 undergraduates who have headed for post-graduate STEM careers. He was the President of the Chicago Society for Neuroscience from 2013-2015 and the National Council of Nu Rho Psi (the National Neuroscience Honor Society) from 2017-2019 and directed the Chicago Brain Bee from 2016-2022. He has received Career Achievement Awards from the Chicago Society for Neuroscience in 2018, the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN), and Wittenberg University in 2019, and most recently the Distinguished Mentor Award in 2023 from FUN.
Elaine Kushkowski
Lead Graduate Fellow, Chicago Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Chicago
Elaine is a PhD Candidate in the Committee on Development, Regeneration, and Stem Cell Biology studying how cell types are specified during early development in vertebrates. Her research focuses on the early position, movements, and signaling environments that drive the specification of a cell type called the neural crest. She has taught a variety of undergraduate biology courses and redesigned the Biological Sciences Division Teaching Assistant Training Course.
In 2023, she received the Wayne C. Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching for her work with undergraduates in the College. As Lead Fellow, Elaine strives to mentor other Fellows and help graduate students across the university become confident, effective, and reflective educators.